No Game for a Child
by Gamemaker John
Summary: The Hunger Games are controlled by a group of men and women called the Gamemakers. Every day, they manipulate the arena into their liking, killing tributes until only one remains. They contribute to 23 deaths every single year, all of them children. And one day, a Gamemaker brings his son to work and lets him play with the controls that dictate life and death for the tributes...


Joshua's eyes fluttered open. He smelt bacon sizzling somewhere and his nostrils sniffed in pleasure. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He changed out of his striped pajamas into some proper clothes. Soon he was out of his bed and running down the stairs to get ready for the day.

"Oh, there he is!" Mother reached down and fluffed his dirty bed-hair hair as he came into the room. "Ready for your big day?" She was standing in the kitchen laying some bacon strips on a sizzling pan as she whisked some eggs together. Usually she would just get some breakfast pre-made from the Pantry that delivers food hot and ready whenever the family wanted. But that day was special. That day was the day Joshua was going to visit his father's job.

Joshua smiled and sat at the table. After being served his food, he started to wolf it down as quickly as he could. "Whoa, now." Mother warned. "Use your manners!"

"Fine." Joshua said as he wiped off some grease from his lip with a napkin and proceeded to eat more slowly. His thoughts were filled with vast ideas of what he would do that day. He knew his dad made games, so Joshua's mind envisioned whimsical and creative ideas of every type of game he could imagine. He knew Father would have the best games in all of Panem.

Just then Father came in through the door.

"Ready to go, sport?" Father asked.

"He just started eating!" Mother chided.

"I'm ready!" Joshua cleared his dish to prove just what a good boy he was. He still had some eggs on it, but he was too excited to wait any longer.

Mother pursed her lips. "Alright then!" Joshua grinned widely. Before he could leave, Mother said, "Take care of him, Rob. He can be cranky when he's hungry."

"Okay." Father said.

"And he doesn't need any sugar; that just makes him wild." Mother said.

"Got it."

"And just make sure-" Mother started.

"Honey," Father said in a calming voice. "It'll be fine."

Mother muttered, "Okay." The two embraced and kissed goodbye. Mother turned to Joshua, who had been waiting by the door. "Be a good boy, okay? Have fun!"

"Okay." Joshua said. Then Father led the way out the door and Joshua eagerly followed. It was only a short trip through the elevator and out the apartment building until they were on their way.

The next few minutes were a routine set of steps. They walked down the street to the train station. They waved their thumbs over the scanner for identification. They were let onto the waiting platform and waited the normal thirty seconds until the train arrived.

As they boarded the train Joshua unleashed a barrage of questions he had been holding in. "So what do you do?" he blurted out.

"I...uh...You know what the Hunger Games are, right?"

Joshua didn't. He had heard the words during kindergarten sometimes when the teachers were watching TV. But he didn't know what it was. He didn't want his Father to think he didn't know something, so he lied, "Yeah, I know what the Hungry Games are."

Father laughed. "Nice try kiddo. They're called the Hunger Games, and they're a kind of...well...game, and I help to make them."

"Oh, I like games." Joshua said happily. "So where do you work?"

"In a place called the Control Room." Father patiently answered.

"Where's that?"

"The center of the Capitol."

"Oh." Joshua didn't really know what that meant but he didn't really care. He was transfixed by watching the city through the windows of the train as it sped by. He'd been on many train rides before, but like all children, he was amazed every time. The Capitol was a place of great heights and bright colors: things every little kid loves. Joshua fixed his sight on the skyscrapers, arches, columns, panels, bridges, and massive buildings of the Capitol. Each one was competing to be the best: whether the brightest, the biggest, the tallest, the most appealing. Joshua pressed his hands and face to the glass walls of the train as he surveyed the architecture with wonder.

So when the train arrived at the station, it was with unhappiness that the father and son departed.

The station was only a short walk from the Control Building. Joshua held his father's hand whenever they crossed the bustling streets. He was both amazed and frightened by the people around him. They had weird hair and colors on their bodies. Their clothes were even stranger, nothing like his and Father's simple black outfits. Joshua knew that his family didn't dress like everyone else, but from his point of view, the _other _people were the weird ones.

"See that?" Father said. Joshua looked up to see the Control Building, the place where his dad worked.

Joshua was amazed by the massive building. Unlike most of the Capitol, it opted for grandness and opulence instead of bright colors and lights. The front doors were massive, much too heavy for a man to open. Thankfully, an automated machine opened them inside.

Joshua focused his eyes on everything he could: the people walking by in black robes, the smooth surfaces, the blue and white color pattern, the simple furniture. Almost every wall contained a TV screen to show images from something. Joshua wasn't really looking at that.

Father took his son into the Main Control Room. Several men and women were already in there, furiously tapping touch screens and pushing buttons. Father walked over to an unused work station and sat down. "This is where you work?" Joshua asked in amazement. The room was almost like a giant TV itself with its multiple reflective surfaces broadcasting moving images all the time. People were everywhere, scurrying from place to place and talking quickly. Most of them tapped on tablets or computers furiously. Joshua noticed that a bunch of other kids were there too, with their parents.

"Yeah, buddy." Father said. He pressed a few buttons and his screen came to life. On it was a map with a bunch of points labeled.

Before Joshua could ask another question, another woman hurried over and said, "Robinus, good thing you're here now. We haven't had a death in three days. Seneca wants you to prepare another fight while he works on the finale."

"Does it have to be now?" Father said, "I was going to show Joshua here some of the controls for the arena manipulation."

The woman seemed to just notice Joshua for the first time. "Hi, Joshua. I think your dad and I need to talk. Maybe you could go over-"

"It's fine. He can stay with me. Now what were you saying?" Father said.

The woman said intently, "We need a death. Now."

Father paused as he scrunched his brow together. "Do we have any mutts?"

"None." The woman said, "We already used the bat mutts and we need the tracker jackers for the finale."

Father was about to say something when the woman cut in, "If I may make a suggestion, Mackenzie has walked into the lightning sector so we can force her into the Careers."

"How far has she gotten?" Father asked rapid fire.

The woman checked something on her tablet, "She's almost in the very center of that section of the forest. The Careers are only 1.7 kilometers away, just outside the zone."

Father considered it for a brief moment. "That sounds good. I'll get started right away. You prepare the cannon and tell Regulus to get the hovercraft to collect the body." Father said. The two Gamemakers continued to talk their strategy.

Joshua was bored. He didn't understand anything the adults were saying and he had nothing to do. It wasn't what he expected at all. Adults were boring; why did they have to talk so much?

So when the woman left and Father opened a new game on his touch-screen desk, he was intrigued.

"What's that game?" Joshua asked.

Father looked down, "Oh, this isn't a game. It's…a...well...it's kind of a game, I guess."

"How does it work?" This was exactly what Joshua had been looking forward to.

"Oh, well. Do you see these yellow dots? We have to get them to come closer to each other. We call them tributes." Father tried to explain.

"How?"

"Well, you see here-" Father pushed a few buttons and more dots, this time white, appeared on the screen. There must have been dozens of them. "These are what I use. If you press one and flick it." Father demonstrated for Joshua. "Then the tribute will go away from the dot."

Joshua considered this. It was certainly a strange game, but it seemed fun. He spoke up, "Can I play?"

Father was about to refuse him, but he thought about it. What's the worst that Joshua could do, accidently hit a tribute? That was the whole point of the game; to get one to die. So, much to Joshua's delight, Father found himself saying, "Why not?"

Joshua found himself propped up on Father's lap with the game board in front of him. He instantly pressed one of the white buttons and flicked it like Father said. Instantaneously, a yellow jet of light emerged and flew across the screen.

Five hundred miles away, a bolt of lightning shot out from a Gamemaker controlled sensor in the arena and struck a nearby tree.

"Whoa, whoa." Father said. "Slow down. Make sure not to hit the tribute. We need to drive it into this group right here." Father pointed to a group of three yellow dots on the other side of the screen.

"Okay." Joshua agreed. He pressed the button again, this time closer to the yellow dot. Immediately the tribute started to move. Joshua found that whenever he made a yellow dash of light from the buttons, the tribute would go the other way. He began to enjoy himself as he played the game.

"That's good." Father said encouragingly. "Remember, you can't hit the tribute."

Joshua murmured his consent, but he was too into the game. The yellow dot would go in different directions and was very unpredictable. He needed to concentrate to try and win.

Father pressed a few buttons on his screen but Joshua paid no attention. Only when people around him started to stand did he look up. On the wall was a giant screen, and on that screen was a picture of a girl in a forest. Everyone began to stop what they were doing and focus on the screen, which showed the girl, who looked a lot older than Joshua, running through a forest on fire. Joshua didn't really care about that so he looked back down at his game.

The yellow dot was almost to the group of other yellow dots. Joshua felt elation because he was winning the game. Suddenly, when the tributes were next to each other, one of the yellow dots disappeared. At the same time, he heard a loud noise.

"What's going on?" Joshua asked as he looked around to see people cheering. "Does it mean I win?"

"Yes." Father laughed. "Yes, the cannon means you win. Great job!"

Joshua was happy. "Are there any more games?" he asked. He liked the first game, but he didn't want to play it again.

Suddenly Joshua was distracted by the large TV screen. A woman was on the screen, maybe about the same age as Mother, and she was crying. Joshua felt sad.

"Why is she crying?" Joshua asked Father, "Is she hurt?"

"No." Father said.

"Then, why?"

"It doesn't matter." Father said. The woman on the screen vanished to be replaced by a strange man with pink hair and eyebrows.

Joshua couldn't take his mind off of the woman. "Can I help her?" he asked sweetly.

"No, sorry son. " Father said. "Listen, I need to get back to work. You can watch it you want."

"But why is she crying?" Joshua demanded.

Father sighed before answering. "Her daughter lost the Hunger Games."

"Is that the game I was playing?"

"Well...yes." Father pondered.

"Oh." Joshua simply said. Then a thought struck him. "Can I see her?"

"What?"

"The girl who lost the game." Joshua said. His father always taught him never to be a sore loser or a sore winner, so he wanted to be nice. Talking to the losing girl would be the good thing to do.

"Well...you can't." Father said.

"Why?"

"Because you can't see any of the tributes who lose." Father lied. "It's the rule."

The TV screen shifted again from the pink haired man to another shot of the forest. A girl was there, running away. Then she saw three other people. One of them pulled out something. Joshua recognized it as a knife his mother used to chop vegetables with except longer and pointier. Then he hit the girl with it.

"What's going on?!" Joshua screamed. He looked around in complete confusion as people began to whistle and clap while they looked at the TV. The girl was on the ground now and she was bleeding. No one was helping her…they were all too busy laughing happily at her misfortune.

Father said. "It's fine, Joshua. It's supposed to happen."

Joshua was distraught. "But why?" he asked. Before Father could respond, another man ran up and gave Father a high-five.

"Nice job, man!" he said. "What was that, your fourth kill these Games? You're on a roll!"

"Not now, Regulus." Father said. He saw Joshua's expression of confusion and knelt down to him.

"Look," Father began, "It's part of the game. It's the Hunger Games."

Joshua stared at the screen where he played his little game as a horrid realization struck him. "This is what you do?!" he shouted.

"Joshua, I thought you understood the Hunger Games." Father said.

"I didn't know!" Joshua shouted.

Regulus began, "They're just a game, Joshua. The girl was just playing a game. It's supposed to be fun…everyone loves 'em." He tried to explain things to his friend's son.

Joshua had a defiant expression on. Father became nervous suddenly. He wasn't reacting like he thought he would. Instead of excitement for the Games, Joshua was horrified. Father was disappointed that his son didn't understand the fun nature of the said, "Maybe we should take you home now." He grabbed Joshua by the hand.

Regulus didn't know what to do as he saw Father drag Joshua out of the , more and more people began to stare at the situation. Joshua started to cry suddenly. Loudly.

The train ride home was quick. Joshua didn't look out the window and gaze in wonderment. No, instead he was pulled into his deep thoughts. His thoughts were transfixed on the crying woman, the dying girl, the knife, the lightning that sprang from the trees, the way the Gamemakers cheered when the cannon boomed….the Hunger Games.

Father took his son into their home. Mother was there, watching the Games in the living room. "What's going on?" she immediately demanded to know. She had no idea why they were home so early.

Father and Mother retreated to the kitchen. "He was upset by the Games." Father said.

Mother nodded. It was unusual, but sometimes younger children were scared of the Hunger Games and the violence in them. But usually they got used to it after a while. "What happened exactly?" she asked.

"Nothing." Father said. "Okay, well, he helped me use the lightning controls."

"Did the lightning scare him?" Mother asked.

"No, he started screaming when he saw her lose." Father euphemized.

Mother didn't speak for a few seconds. Joshua had always been a sensitive kid. He needed to learn that the Hunger Games are for the good of the Capitol. He was simply too innocent. "Maybe it will be best if he stayed home for the rest of the day," she said, "I'll try to teach him more about the Hunger Games…I'll make sure he grows to love them, just like any other little boy."

Father nodded.

The two of them turned their attention to the living room, where Joshua was seated on the couch. Recaps of the last few hours of the Games were being televised.

But Joshua didn't see an exciting game or a great reality TV show. He saw a girl being hurt and chased by lightning bolts. He saw children forced to fight to the death. Every time a lightning bolt struck, he was reminded that he was the one manning the controls. He was the one who caused her death. He didn't understand the Games, he didn't understand why they happened or why Father helped them, but he knew they were wrong.

Silent tears began to flow as he stared at the horrific images. Joshua could only form one thought:

This is no game for a child.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it! I entered this in Caesar's Palace's Monthly Oneshot contest for the prompt "Innocence". I thought, "What conveys innocence more than the literary device of Innocent Eye?" So I wrote a story with an emphasis on a child's perspective. Anyway, if you liked this story, check out some of my other ones and feel free to drop a review! Seriously, reviews make my day. Thanks again for reading! ~Gamemaker John**

**(UPDATE: My story got third place out of eight entries! I'm very pleased because I have never entered one of these things before.)**


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